08 Jan 2007 at 10:28 - 54
Bought Nightfall for myself the other day, and wow, Heroes pwn. Olias, especially. (Except when he ninjas one of my corpses.)
Ok, so one major disappointment was that I couldn't make a Rit for Nightfall, so boohoo, I ported my old one over. Since this IS our Factions char, there's no reason not to get the quest "Gain Zenmai" too. Both the quest to port over and get the Zenmai Hero can be obtained from Imperial Guardsman Linro in Kaineng Center, near the Bejunkan Pier portal. Zenmai is an lvl 15 Assassin, but a few runs through Vizunah Square will fix that. For those of you with Prophesies too, get Olias, a Necro. I made Olias into a traditional MM with Flesh Golem, Fiends, and Vamps. Because we're selfish, I also put Death Nova into his Slot 1. XD (The AI figures out how to use skills based on where they are on their skill bar, with Slot 1 used the most, and 8 the least.)
Starting out, you're gonna breeze through the early missions until you get to a dialogue where you have to choose between Sousuke the Fire Nuker and Jin the Ranger. I picked Sousuke, dropped his Air Magic, and made him into a Ele/Mes with some Glyphs. For my Heroes, I usually take some combination of: Dunkoro the Healer Monk, Tah the Prot Monk, Olias the MM, Koss the Warrior, and Sousuke the Nuker. For Henchies: Eve the Blood Ritual, Devona the Other Warrior, Cynn the More Nuking, Professor Gai the Spirit Rit, Sologon the Monk-Wannabe, and Gehraz the Dervish.
Sologon I use as a backup tank, and Gehraz should be a better Assassin, since his skills do more if I'm spreading lots of Conditions. Dropping Death Nova on him is also never a bad thing, since it's said that he tends to use Signet of Pious Light to remove it and self-heal. And well, anything that goes into melee with a Nova on them...
If you take a Monk Hero who's focused on Healing Prayers, give them Dwayna's Sorrow, for party heals every time an ally dies. Use it from the Hero Control Panel right before battle, after you've Nova-ed up. You can access the Hero Control Panel by clicking the button next to their name in your Party panel. Ranger spirits such as Winnowing, Predatory Season, and Quickening Zephyr, work well, Edge of Extinction does not. Paragon Shouts should also work well: Fall Back, Stand Your Ground, and Go For the Eyes!, among others.
When you accept rewards for a quest, make sure to swap out Heroes that are already lvl 20 for those that you haven't bothered to level up or haven't gotten a chance to level. No sense in wasting solid XP.
When you get to Venta Cemetery, your Allies include 8 Monks, so drop the Monk Heroes and load up on the AOE and damage. With Olias, both Nukers, both Warriors, and 8 Monks, I "Mastered" Venta all by myself.
So far I'm pretty darn happy with all the Heroes except for Zenmai and Olias. I don't know whether I just gave Zenmai the wrong build or what, but she keeps dying way too often. Olias, I need to bump down his Animates, as he keeps stealing my corpses. (I don't have the time to manage both mine and Olias's Animates in battle via the Skill screen.) Well, that's all for now. Next stop, Zhed the Horsey!